mikuni

New Mclaren livery looks much better. Still not where it should be to celebrate Honda returning, but a big improvement.

http://m.speedcafe.com/2015/05/06/mclaren-takes-wraps-off-new-graphite-livery/

Who wrote that? (hope it's not too obvious, but I can't guess)

That was a great race. I just ignored the stupid looking cars and tried not to compare it to anything else and it was enjoyable. That is an awesome track!

I thought this was relevant for the people who still doubt Tony Quinn has the interest of New Zealand Motorsport at heart.

http://m.speedcafe.com/2015/04/20/cafe-chat-tony-quinn-on-race-to-the-sky/

That was a pretty cool race.

Rosbergs pass on Vettel as they came flying up behind a pit exiting Hamilton was super cool. Sparks everywhere and massive closing speed.

It fizzled out towards the end, but Kimi's chasing down of the leading Merc's provided a good spectacle. If only the race were a lap longer he might have caught Hamilton.

Ricciardo's engine blowing up over the line was fantastic. I wouldn't put it past Red Bull to have turned the engine up outside it's window just to illustrate that the problems aren't fixed, but there will never be any evidence to prove this either way.

Desert racing at night works.

http://m.speedcafe.com/2015/04/19/castroneves-on-pole-as-disaster-strikes-power/

Awkward typo

"Italian Stefano Coletti will start last after tagging the wall in the first session and bringing out the red fags."

Quite a good quali. Looks like Nico has gone for a race set up, but underestimated the single lap pace of the Ferrari(s).

McLaren looking better now. Just need to get the gremlins sorted now. Ironically it now appears to be at McLaren's end (electrical) rather than Honda.

Uggghhh, Shanghai delivers yet again. There were a few battles in the mid field, but not too much happening at the front. Safety car also helped remove any chance of a dying lap battle.

Was funny seeing the frogs pop though.

It's all about LMP1 though, and with good manufacturer support it looks like it will be good for a few years at least.

The Nissan floats my boat. It is front engine, but the engine is completely behind the front axle, so it is technically still 'mid', just in front of the cabin. It's a bit of a shambles though, with a failed crash test ruling them out of the first two WEC races and even making Le Mans a marginal prospect due to a lack of running.

Porsche are going well. Go Webber and Hartley!

Quali was a little bit status quo I thought. The cars all two by two, except Kimi with a disappointing effort. His car was a shambles - perhaps tyres not up to temp for the start of the lap.

McLaren were actually 3 seconds off the pace, so still quite a bit, but a solid showing by both drivers, split by only 4/1000ths, so obviously getting everything out of a shit car.

Quali Saturday at 7peem

Race is Sunday at 6pm, coverage on Sky starts at 4:30pm.

Ferraris are looking good again on race pace. It's going to come down to the tyres again, like Malaysia, so should be an exciting race.

Ricciardo manages 3rd which is better, and the McHondas are also looking to be improving somewhat.

Strange off for Massa.

Should have called him Max.

This is a little bit racist, but man those cars look terrible. I wish they chilled the aero down a little bit like F1 has done.

The cars sound alright and the racing can be good, but Will Power can gtfo. Get a less dumb name.

That's good news!

So the seals went but no internal damage? Away from the whole finger pointing, you still need to figure out what happened to cause the issue, otherwise it may happen again.

I really can't see one of us wanting to pay money to get the equipment there. Many of us have welders and oldschool is the sort of community where if someone gets caught out and needs a hand, there are usually others than can help for beers/cash/blowies. 

In saying that, a mobile workshop to do specialist stuff could be a good idea if you can get the word out enough. Often there are tricky jobs to do on the car, such as rust work, chassis repairs, header altering, etc, that need to be done on the car and it is just far too much effort trying to get the car to a place that can do the work.. so it never gets done. This is an area where there might be a market perhaps. I think specialist on site painting is probably another  area for potential, like roll cage painting, engine bay and touch ups. Things that you want done to a high standard, but if you don't have the correct gear it can be a mission, and it is not really worth taking the car anywhere to get it done. 

The sky fan-pass thing is ridiculously expensive. You can buy it per week, month or year, but no matter what it is comparable on price and easier to just get Sky TV. Plus then you get V8 Supercars and any other things that may be of interest on Sky (not much). 

Good race. The safety car spiced things up to create a lot of passing. The cars were really just finding their positions again, but that's cool.

The Ferrari's are quick. For Kimi to come back from a lap down after popping a tyre to finish forth, even with a safety car, is crazy.

Only problem with rain in Malaysia.. now we play the waiting game...

Mclaren are looking more promising already. Closer than Melbourne. Improvement will come.

I'm looking forward to the race. Apparently Ferrari were faster than Mercedes on long runs, so if Vettel can qualify on the second row he might be able to keep the Mercs honest.

Anyone Following this weekends race in KL?

Certainly am. Never miss a race or quali, barely miss a practice.

Cool!

Now paint that middle section, it looked way more normal. At the moment it reminds me of cars you see where thy have put a body kit on from another car but can't afford to paint it yet

So even the mild steel v-band flanges will seal well without a gasket or any treatment? I thought those v-band flanges only came in stainless, so was surprised to see them in mild steel as well. 

So why the hell would you not homologate a beast of an engine and then work on the reliability? As long as they don't blow too many up at the start of a race they should progress quickly this year I recon.

Is it a beast of an engine though? I really hope it is, but over the years there have been a lot of these types of things that fail to deliver because they have aimed too high. I'll watch with baited breath though, that's part of the excitement of F1.

I have a feeling Honda are doing something tricky dicky with the MGH and you can harvest an unlimited amount of energy from un-like the MGK which limited

Does anyone know if they were using the full limited of 15,000 this year as most were around 12,000 last year

That sounds feasible, but isn't heat energy harnessing just turbo?

I think they are revving higher this year, but it is a little deceptive with the Mercedes engine having a different exhaust manifold and sounding so much cleaner and crisper. They had a very 'off' note last year, similar to the Honda of this year.

Its a bit of a joke when only 15 cars start a race. Then the whole debacle with Sauber and what happened to Marussia? they were there but not racing, they really need to sus out a way to make it more affordable as without the teams there is no F1, I understand this is somewhat counter productive with the "Pinnacle of motor-sport" that F1 is, but it needs to happen, it needs to be less complicated.

It's not good and after the first lap it was down to 13. But it's F1. This has happened in the past. During the race they were quoting some of the records, once at Monaco only 4 cars finished People argue about it being a faked spectacle and then complain when the cars blow up or have mechanical faults. F1 has always been difficult, that's the point.

How about Sainz and Verstappen before he crapped out!!! KIMI was going awesome too before his pit crew fucked it for him TWICE!!!

It fairness to his team and the others that had difficulty, it was largely due to the first lap shunts ruining the threads on the hubs. Vettel and Kimi came together and Kimi went into a Sauber, damaging his left rear. Granted the crew shouldn't have let him go, but it's not entirely their fault. 

It's a bit too soon to make a repower call. Pull it down and see what the specifics are and then go from there.

That exhaust is mighty fine! Loving the intake too. Those two pieces alone would need to be altered for a repower, and this car is built for a class, so might as well rebuild for that class.

Good luck Brent, hope it isn't too bad when you open it up.